Toothbrush



Feb. 24, 1925.

W. PERDON TOOTHBRUS H Filed June l5, 1925 IN/AENToR WITNESSES ATTORNEYSPanamea-24,1925; y, l' 1,527,853

uNlrEos'TATi-is 1 A'1a1\r1 oFFIcE.

WILLIAM FERDIL- F OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

TOO'THBRUSH. X

Application led J'une 13, 1923. Serial No. 645,156.

To all 'whom it 'may concern: Figure 5 is a perspective view showing thel Be itknown that I, WILLIAM FERDON, a foldable Jbrush of this inventionand with citizenwofl the United States, residing at the brush extendedwith relation to the- Omaha, in the county of Douglas, State of-handleand Nebraska, have invented certain new andv Figure 6 is aperspective view showing 00A useful Improvements in Toothbrushes, of thebrush when folded and enclosed within which the following is aspecification. the casing or receptacle carried by theI This inventionrelates to tooth'brushes.' handle. A11 ob'ect of the invention is toprovide a Referring to the'drawings in detail, and tooth briishstructure whichy will allow the particularly to Figures 1 to 4,inclusive, 10 65 bristles to be easily cleaned and maintained designatesgenerally the bodv of the tooth "in a sanitary condition. brush or thelbristle-supporting portion It is also an object of the invention 'tothereof which as shown lcomprises a frame Y providea structure whichwill enable the substantially rectangular inl shape and in-y i 15,'bristles to be closely inspected, and thereby cluding the two sideportions 11 lwhich are 70 to enable the user y to ascertain il.v theseintegrally connected at theircenter and ends bristles are in a clean andsanitary condition. and' the rear ends thereof extended in the A furtherobject of the invention `'is to form of a'shank 12, said shank. beingpro-` provide a novel form of toothpickwhich vided at its outer end witha central may be incorporated in the structure of the threaded bore 13.Betweenfthe ends of the. tooth brush. v 5 s frame or body member 10there is extended A still further object of the invention is 'aplurality of laterally and materially to provide a` folding form oftooth brush spaced apart bristle-supporting `strips' 14, whereby'toenable the brush to be made into each strip being provided with aplurality of an exceedingly compact article and thereby. openings 15adapted to receive bristles 16. 80 permit the same to beconvenientlycarried The o enings 15 are, of course, arranged in the pocket of theuser. L longitudinally of the strips 14, as shown, and

It is also an object of the invention that.. preferably these strips aretied together andY the foldable form of tooth brush be of such n'alsotied to the side members 11 of the body 3 construction vthat thebristles will be' promember or frame 10 by a cross web plate'85 tectedand maintainedlin a sanitary condi- 17 at about the longitudinal centerofthe l lbody member.' Each side member 11 ofthel tion when thebrush' isfolded. v

Otherobjects, and objects relating to debody ory frame member 10 has itsupper edge tails of construction, combination and ar- -formed' with anoverhang rib 18, and each' rangement of parts will hereinafter appearrib being arranged todefine a guideway or in the detailed descriptioh tofollow. groove 19. A cover plate 2O is provided The invention isillustrated by way of whichy lis preferablyfma'de of celluloid andexample in the accompanying drawings,- in which is adapted to slidewithin the groove whi Vor guideways 19. This cover plate is pref- Y c A40 Figure 1 is a perspective'vie'w illustraterably transparent so that aperson can 95 ing t form of tooth brush embodying the observe the,bristles therebeneath.' It might present invention, be here mentionedthat the cover plate 20 Figure 2 is a group view showing fragmay havethe name of the user of the toothmentary portions of atooth brush handleand brush placed thereon and thereby to enable" bristle-supporting bodyjtogether with the" the u ser to at` all times clearly identiyhistoothpick which serves as a coupllng brush. Also if desired the name ofthe medium between these members, maker of the brush maybe-placed uponthis d Figure 3 is a plan view ofthe back of the slide. 4 i A body orbristle supporting portion of the A handle 21 is provided which may beof brush and also showing in section a portion any desired constructionand which 1s pref- 105 of the handle and the mannen in whlch the erablyformed at its 'outer end with an openhandle is connected tothe body ofthe brush ,ing 22 for suspending the `brush from a by the tooth pick,hook or nail. '.Ihe other `end of this ihandle y Figure 4 is atransverse sectional view as shown in Flgure 2 1s provided with 'an'taken through the body of the brush, elongated bore 23, the outer endportion of 11.0

which is threaded, `as at 24. A combined coupling member and a toothpick is provided which vcomprises a stem which tapers toward its one endto providea 'pointed portion -25 which may beutilized as a 'tooth pickand which lvhas formed adjacent its other end the reversely threadedportions 26 and 27 The threaded portion 27 is adapted to engage thethreaded bore in the read end of the shank 12 formed upon the' body orframe member 10, while the threaded portion 26 is adapted to engage withthe threaded portion 24 of the bore 23 in the tooth brush handle, and inthis way the handle may be securely connected to the body orbristle-supporting frame 10 as illustrated in Figure 3. v It isvbelieved from the foregoing description that the ydifferent advantagesarising from a tooth brush structure of thischaracter will be clearlyunderstood. It should, however,

be pointed out that in case it is desired to clean thebristles the slide20 may be removed and then water is forced throughthe bristles 16 and inthis manner the bristles may be thoroughly cle'aznsed. This slide 20 is,of course, again positioned after the brush hasbeen cleaned and theinner ends of the bristles may at all times be viewed through thisslide.I

In case it is desired to use the tooth pick and the same should bedisconnected from the body member or bristle supporting frame 1() andalso the handle 21 then the pick maybe threadedly connected with thehandle 21 and in this way a handle is pro` vided for the pick. e f

Referring to Figures 5 and 6 the brush construction shown is the same asdescribed for Figures 1 to '4,y inclusive, and similar referencenumerals have been applied. The handle however in thisconstruction'comprises a section 28 which is preferably of the shapeshown and which is provided with a' suitable elongated and threaded boreadapted to receive the pointed'portion 25 of the tooth pickk or couplingmember and also adapted to threadedly engage the same frame 10 with thehandle section 28. This handle section 28 has hinged, as at 29, vto oneend thereof an elongated plate 30,'said plate being formed with a air ofside flanges 31 which are connecte together at their outer ends by anintegral plate section 32, thus providing what may be referred'to as acasing. Adjacent thepupper edge and upon the inner side of each ange 31there extending groove 33, whereby to provi e guideways or -receivin aslide or cover plate 34. Preferably t 's cover plate is provided at oneend w1th a notch 35 to facilitate the removal thereof.

In'the construction shown in Figures 51 'and dental powder or paste andequally applied yto the teeth of a rangement of parts may be nectingstrips,

and 6 the brush as a 'whole may be folded then the slide 34 may be movedto cover the ,brush as illustrated in Figure 6. It is obvious with abrush folded in this compact form the same may be readily positioned in.the pocket of the us and at all times maintained in a clean andvsanitary condition. It also might be pointed out that in the structureshown in Figures 5 and 6 the name of the vuser may be placed upon theslide 24 or the name lof the manufacturer may be pla[ced upon thisslide.

- t with `a tooth brush body of the construction is here to beparticularly noted that,

hereinbefore described thel slide` `for the bristle-supporting frame mayLbe removed inserted at the base of the bristles, that is, about thebase of the bristles, and then the slide again.

placed in' position. With the dental powder or paste positioned inthismanner the same will" gradually feed or gravitate to the points ofthe bristles when said bristles are moistened and the tooth brush beingused for brushingthe teeth.` In this manner the dental paste or powderis economically used and this is especially true when comparing thismethod for use of dental aste or powder with the usual method whic is toplace the powder upon the` outer'ends' 'of the bristles. With the dentalpaste or powder on the ends fof the bristles a great-part ofl the sameis washed from the brush by dipping the same iny water and in thisplacing the paste or powder as heretofore recitedthe same is retained inthe bristles erson using this particular structure lof brus y While Ihave shown and described the preferred form of my invention, I wish itto way lost, whereas, by

be understood that I am aware of thel fact.L

that the construction, combination and archanged by those skilled in theart without departing from the spirit of the invention, as indicated bythe appendedclaims. 4 and thereby connect the bristle supporting.

I claim: l l

1. In a tooth brush, an elongated body frame member laterally spacedapart bristle supporting strips extendmg longitudinally bet'ween theends of the frame,

said strips provided with openings extending entirely therethroughwhereby p tufts, and leaving the ends of, said bristles exposed, and acover adapted to form a back .for said brush.

` 2. In a tooth brush structure of the character described, an elongatedframe, bristle'- supporting strips extending between the ends of saidframe and having apertures extending entirely therethrough, tufts ofbristles mounted in said apertures, and a trans to hold the inner endsof the bristle and cross con- 1,527,853 l '8 parent cover for said frameadapted to form bod)7 member having" a shank extending l a back for saidbrush structure and expose from its one end provided at its outer'en theends of the bristles. with a threaded, bore, a handle member havl5 3. Ina, tooth brush structure of the charing its inner end" provided with areversely v 5 acter described, an elongated frame, bristle threaded boreadapted to be brought into supporting strips 'positioned within theaxial ali'nment with the bore in said shank frame, said frame havingeachside portion of the bristle-supporting member, and a provided with a riband each rib havinga tooth pick having one end pointed and re- 20 grooveupon its inner side, and a plate memversely threaded portions adjaoentits oppo 10 ber slidable in said grooves, for the purposev site end, andadapted for threadedly connectdescribed. ing the handle to said sha 4.In a toothbrush, a bristle-supporting WILLIAM FERDON.

